That the current system of writing the annual budget constitutes the treasurer writing a budget which can be either accepted or rejected by the JCR

That if the budget were rejected it would cause significant problems

That amendments suggested to the budget may lack oversight and as such lead to poor financial decisions

That it is not currently clear how a member of the JCR would go about making a large change to the budget

This JCR Believes

That the process of budget writing should be democratically accessible

That it is beneficial to minimise the chance of people objecting to the budget when it is presented

This JCR Orders

That there will be a document containing budget writing principles which should

Be changeable by a motion submitted to a JCR meeting

Guide the treasurer in writing the budget

Contain a list of principles in order of priority that should be included in the budget

This JCR Mandates

The treasurer when writing the budget to base it on the presented document, deviating from the principles as little as possible, and breaking lower priority items when needed

Priority

Reason

In

Out

1

Expected income and expected expenditure should be within £2,500 of each other

£ –

£ –

2

Presidential salary

£ –

£ 12,871.00

3

President’s flat and council tax

£ –

£ 5,000.00

4

Trustee expenses

£ –

£ 1,000.00

5

Insurance

£ –

£ 4,000.00

6

Auditing of the accounts

£ –

£ 2,000.00

7

Bank charges

£ –

£ 450.00

8

£3,000 will be ring-fenced for legal fees

£ –

£ –

9

Levies will be set at £50/year for 2016-17, plus inflation for later years, rounded to the nearest £0.50

£ 67,250.00

£ –

10

The JCR will match S&S income at approximately 1:1

£ –

£ –

11

Fresher’s week, the Michaelmas ball and the Feast of St Cuthbert will be run as fundraising events

£ 2,000.00

£ –

12

Funds of £2,000 more than the submitted budgets will be set aside for S&S

£ –

£ 20,000.00

13

Accountancy training

£ –

£ 150.00

14

Gyms

£ –

£ 1,800.00

15

Printing

£ –

£ 500.00

16

Accounting software

£ –

£ 144.00

17

Exec handover

£ –

£ 50.00

18

The surplus from fresher’s week will be spent on a refresher’s event

£ –

£ 1,000.00

19

Open days

£ –

£ 1,000.00

20

Participation fund

£ –

£ 600.00

21

S&S training scholarships

£ –

£ 800.00

22

Library

£ –

£ 2,500.00

23

Website

£ –

£ 100.00

24

TV license fees

£ –

£ 291.00

25

Welfare

£ –

£ 750.00

26

Gov comm

£ –

£ 200.00

27

Outreach comm

£ –

£ 500.00

28

Environment comm

£ –

£ 100.00

29

International comm

£ –

£ 600.00

30

Post-grad comm

£ –

£ 1,000.00

31

Social comm activities

£ –

£ 800.00

32

Art supplies

£ –

£ 600.00

33

Ringfenced to be spent at the discretion of the exec

£ –

£ 700.00

34

£500 plus any green machine income will be spent on the green machine

£ –

£ 500.00

35

Misc. non sporting facilities such as the conference room

£ –

£ 1,200.00

36

DLB awards

£ –

£ 700.00

37

Team photos for the bar

£ –

£ 450.00

38

Newspapers

£ –

£ 2,000.00

39

Cuth’s day will be subsidised by £13,000

£ –

£ 13,000.00

40

The income from the pool table will be spent on the pool table, with the exception of costs for league matches, which will be refunded to captains

£ –

£ –

41

Nothing except protected income will be spent on the music room

£ –

£ –

42

Any increase in insurance of the boatclub from one year to the next will be met by the boatclub for that year

£ –

£ –

University Grant

£ 8,000.00

£ –

Bar Transfer

£ 500.00

£ –

Total

£ 77,750.00

£ 77,356.00

This JCR Resolves

That the treasurer should inform members of the JCR of the principles they intend to break, with reasons, at the JCR meeting before that at which the budget is presented. This should be treated as a motion where

Members of the JCR are given the chance to amend this list, to the affect that other principles should be broken instead

After voting on amendments, the list must be passed by the meeting.

If the list is not passed, the opportunity for further amendments should be given. This should continue until the list is approved.

Proposer

James Cochran

Seconder

Tom Johnson

CH: How is it different?
MC: There are guidelines instead of doing whatever.
AF: So it’s just an aid to make things clearer and more transparent?
MC: Yup, I like it.

TJ: Maybe not link the two? Imagine if one passes and one doesn’t?
SJ: We’ll make it one Motion.

Some wording is changed in order to make the motion a single motion.

MC: There are issues which should be debated, but it’s for the meeting, not here.

PoC Motion

This JCR notes:

There is no position within Cuth’s that has the responsibility to represent People of Colour.

Some members of the JCR have expressed that there has been limited representation in Cuths for PoC identifying students.

There are platforms given for representation of several other similar minorities within Cuth’s.

The Durham Students’ Union PoC Association was recently ratified.

This JCR believes:

Given the recent ratification of the Durham Students’ Union PoC Association, having a Rep within the JCR to communicate with this Association and reps in other colleges would be beneficial to students who identify as PoC.

Cuth’s should increase representation for People of Colour for a more diverse and accepting College atmosphere.

This JCR resolves:

To create a People of Colour Representative within Cuth’s JCR.

People of Colour Representative will be a Method ii position.

The PoC Rep will sit on welfare committee at the same level as the other minorities reps.

Proposer: Tra My Hickin

Seconder: Megan Croll

SJ: Should we make the new rep go to the Uni PoC association?

MC: Our minorities reps are not mandated to go to union level committees so it should be voluntary.

SJ: I had a meeting with Rich, which turned into a wider discussion on JCR meetings, also about attendance and the football budget, is there any response to that as of yet?

MC: I have not heard anything back from Team Durham, but Cuth’s Football have responded.

SJ: Dangerous precedent has been set. Could easily bring more people and ask for more. Could institute more regulation on budget? Over a certain amount, FiComm has veto? Or only apply for 1 budget per year?
MC: 1 attempt at alteration?

AF: I was thinking of proposing a motion for stopping what happened with Football from happening again? Not be able to vote on issues about your own society?
MC: No because they are the most knowledgeable and have paid the levy so want a say about their society. Also no club is big enough to vote against the entire JCR.

JL: I would also worry about 1 budget/year. Say they budget for 5 teams at the end of the year and 100 freshers turn up and they need 8.

SJ: FiComm cap for veto would be a difficult discussion. What is it?

KL: Over a certain amount, be able to have an online vote?

CH: Have a majority vote over a certain amount? 66%?

KL: Could be anything, even motions.

SJ: Money is more important as motions can be repealed, money cannot be unspent.

JL: Maybe a percentage of difference between FiComm recommendation and what is passed?

MC: I’d propose that. James would second and would have good input. I’ll write a draft one.

SJ: On attendance, more difficult to solve. Tash changed this to steering comm, and we have the ability to pass a motion, we should repeal that, and there was an addition about 2 from sports and socs and all elected positions. Could have a VONC at the meeting where the position have not sent apologies multiple times? Would need another motion.

MC: Trustees will be in attendance on Monday.

SJ: I will also make sure that the format of motions stays the same. Two main issues:

1) Every elected position has to attend, what we will do about those that do not.

2) Get rid of the steering comm powers of passing motions.

MC: I will draft a copy for the steering comm meeting, and I think we should VONC at the 2nd missed meeting for elected positions.

TJ: Maybe harsh? Make it 3?
MC: I disagree, they will have been warned when they missed one.

CH: How many Vonc’s will end up happening?
KL: What is the sports and socs attendance like?
TJ: I will be looking into that this weekend.
AB: What would we when do with the newly open position?
MC: Run it at the first meeting afterwards.

SJ: Shall we make it 2 consecutive absences or 3 in total WITHOUT sending apologies?

MC: Agree.

TJ: Depends on the size of the sport or soc as well. Easier for boatclub to have 2 people than artsoc.

SJ: If people see motions beforehand, people come down if they are interested. We therefore, in order to continue this, need to move forward the deadline for motion submission. Make steering comm mandated to be held more than 48h in advance.

ACTION POINT: Megan to send the budget percentage and steering comm motions to Sam before posting on the page.
AF: We have a new voting system that makes things a lot easier. Needs explaining to people before using it though. Can send documents via the election page instead of to the SRO.

SJ: Should steering comm discuss how it works?
AF: Yeah. Also can tell when things are changed and by who, has FAQ section. Takes longer to set up elections, at least a full day before the meeting. If I didn’t do so, they would have to be run the day after the meeting, not the night of. I have not enabled the system for Monday.